Peabody scholar traces 10,000 years of state's Native American history

Joe Meyers

Published 1:35 pm, Thursday, May 23, 2013

The history of Connecticut archaeology and the late 19th century vogue for Indian artifacts are just two aspects of the over-sized and profusely illustrated "Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples," a new book from Yale University Press by Lucianne Lavin.
Photo: Contributed Photo

The history of Connecticut archaeology and the late 19th century...

Lucianne Lavin of New Haven's Peabody Museum of Natural History is the author of a profusely illustrated new book "Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples" from Yale University Press.
Photo: Contributed Photo

The book goes back in time more than 10,000 years to the first people who settled in Connecticut and follows Native American history in the state to the present day. Lavin, who lives in Torrington, said the book is a much-expanded version of the guide she wrote to accompany the opening of a 50th anniversary celebration of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut in 1984.

"Since that time, new and exciting archaeological and historical discoveries have challenged old theories and reshaped traditional interpretations," the author writes.

"Misconceptions abound about `historical' Native Americans. Specifically, they include the erroneous notions that all indigenous peoples moved west to get away from the Europeans or died out from the effects of warfare and disease, and that the occasional nineteenth-century Indians mentioned in local town histories were among a few families left behind when their tribe went west -- and who soon died out as well."

Lavin said she wants to eradicate the negative stereoptype of "the vanishing Connecticut Indian" and therefore added two chapters that discuss Indian communities from European contact to the present.

The book delves into one of the major challenges faced by Native American scholars and archaeologists -- the fad for all things Indian in the late 19th century.

Triggered in part by the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago "this interest produced a demand for Indian objects, creating a thriving market," Lavin writes.

"Bidding wars with astute hobbyists played institutions against each other. As the market grew, so did the propensity for collectors to dig indiscriminately. Sites were pilfered recklessly, and significant amounts of data were lost. Equally disturbing was the introduction of counterfeit artifacts into the stream of commerce."

The chaotic situation was brought under at least partial control with the passage of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which protected historic and prehistoric Indian sites on federal land.

The book takes us up to today, when Indian tribes must find wealthy white backers -- interested in casino management -- to be recognized and to become eligible for federal grants for health programs, higher education for their children and other social services.

"Casinos are a white man's institution. To produce a federal recognition petition meeting the rigid requirements of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, a tribe must spend millions of dollars to fund the professional genealogists, historians, anthropologists, office staff, and lawyers necessary to gather and prepare the proper documents ... ," Lavin writes.